


Bedtime Stories

by rumplestitlskin



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, but it does get happy at the end, i guess, wish this wasn't sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 22:31:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11045676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rumplestitlskin/pseuds/rumplestitlskin
Summary: Rumple tells Gideon his favorite story.





	1. Chapter 1

It was bedtime, and that meant only one thing to Gideon French-Gold; story time. Either his mother or father would come and sit with him to read any story of his choosing, though he picked the same one every time. His Handsome Hero. His mother’s favorite, and it was his too. He crawled under the sheets, his hand grasping for the book that he had stashed away under his pillow, making sure it was safe.

He glanced at the clock on his bedside table. It was 9:00 p.m. and there was no sign of his parents. Gideon pushed back the sheets, crawled off his bed and crept towards the door. Pressing his ear against the door frame, he waited to hear if his parents had gone up to their room instead. He pushed the door open and immediately heard voices coming from the kitchen downstairs.

They hadn't come up with him after dinner, he realized. Their voices became louder as he made his way down the stairs, and he was careful not to alert them of his presence. A part of Gideon was begging him to go back to his room, but another part was curious to know what was so important that they had forgotten to tell him his bedtime story.

“I’m asking you to just give him a chance, Rumple.”

“I did, Belle. If you saw the way he talked to me about Gideon today you would-“

“-what did he say?”

There was a pause then. Gideon froze where he stood, wondering if perhaps they had seen him. A minute passed and he heard the tap running and clinking glass sounds. 

His parents must be talking about his grandpa, he guessed. Grandpa Moe had taken Gideon out that day and things had gone pretty well until his father had shown up to take him home. His grandpa had muttered something about how he didn’t want his father coming around to where he lived and the two of them had gotten into some sort of an argument that Gideon wished he hadn’t heard. Grandpa Joe had called his father a cruel-hearted bastard who couldn’t change his scales if he tried. Those were the words that had been used, and those were the words that had haunted Gideon’s thoughts all day.

He knew it couldn’t be true. His father was not cruel, he was good and kind and better than all the other dads of the kids at school.

‘My father isn’t bad. He lets me sleep with mom and him when I get nightmares. He takes me out for ice cream even when I get into trouble at school. He catches stars and puts them in little jars so I don’t get scared of the dark. He’s not bad. He’s good,’ Gideon had wanted to say but when he saw the expression on his father’s face, he decided that maybe it wasn’t a good time. His father had scooped him into his arms and carried him back to the car, and the rest of the ride he had pretended as if nothing bothered him. But Gideon could see the hurt in his eyes, it was the same look he had whenever the kids at school told him he wasn't allowed to play with them because he was different.

“It doesn’t matter. If our boy is to spend time with his grandfather, then I think it’s best if you pick him up. It’s clear your father hasn’t changed his mind about what he thinks about me-though, I can’t blame him.”

Gideon heard his mother make a sharp noise just then, and the fridge door opened and closed. 

“Rumple, you know I-"

“I think Gideon’s waiting to hear his bedtime story. I’ll go.”

Gideon had barely made it to his room and back into his bed when he heard soft knocks on his door. 

“Gideon?” his father called.

“You’re late, papa,” Gideon said, pretending to rub his eyes as he looked to his father. 

His father smiled, and were not for the frown lines on his forehead, Gideon would have almost believed his father was alright. He plopped down to the chair facing Gideon’s bed, his hands fidgeting with the cuff of his shirt. Gideon knew he would get into trouble for asking his father what happened with his mother but he decided to take a chance anyway.

“Did you and mama fight?” he asked, trying to make himself as small as possible.

He knew it was wrong to have eavesdropped on them but he needed to know if his parents were okay. His grandpa had mentioned once how he didn’t think his parents’ relationship would last because of the type of man his father was and Gideon hoped the older man was wrong. He had to be.

“We didn’t fight, Gideon. It was just a-disagreement,” he said, pressing his tone on the last word with a weary sigh. 

“What did you disagree about?”

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter. She’s right, anyway. Always is, your mother.”

There was a pause before he continued.

“Now-what story do you want me to read to you tonight?” his father asked, already pulling out the old, battered copy of Her Handsome Hero from under Gideon’s pillow.

Gideon took the book from his father’s hand and put it back to its original place, and then turned to see his father sporting a confused look on his face. 

“You read my favorite every night and it’s not fair. Tell me your favorite story, papa.” 

Gideon watched as his father’s eyes widened a little, and then he smiled widely before leaning in close to him. 

“Alright, son, this story is about how an old, evil wizard was brought down by a beautiful hero.”


	2. Chapter 2

To say that Belle was stressed would be an understatement. She liked to believe that her life was easy, but her father and her husband’s childish antics made it anything but that. Belle had hoped that giving her father a grandchild would, if not completely, at least lessen the hate Moe and Rumple harbored for one another. 

Annoyance, not hate, her husband had told her the night after Belle had attempted to set up a dinner with the three of them. It had started off well, and Belle was pleased, but then Moe had to make a comment about Rumple’s use of magic around the house to which her husband had retorted saying it was none of his business. By dessert, the dining room had turned into a war zone with Moe and Rumple almost threatening to break into a fight using nothing but their spoons and forks. After Moe left, Belle had told Rumple off for behaving like a child and that hating her father would not make things any easier between them. He had waved her off, saying he was just annoyed and they would be fine once Gideon got older.

And yet, 10 years passed and here they were, still bickering over the fact that Belle’s father was an old grouch who could not get over the fact that his daughter was married to the Dark One. Belle knew if Rumple had his way, her father would never get to see or hold Gideon and that rubbed her off in all the wrong ways. No matter how much of an idiot her husband and father acted like, old Moe deserved to at least know and care for his grandson. It was his right, after all.

She sighed, putting away the glass Rumple had used as an attempt to distract himself from answering her questions. He wouldn’t tell her what it was that her father had said to him, and deep down she was not sure she wanted to know. Belle knew what Moe was like, he was protective of her and there were too many a times when he had found her at his doorstep, crying over how her husband had lied to her for the millionth time. She knew he had reasons to not trust Rumple, but she had also sat him down and talked to him about how much her husband had changed. 

Ever since they had rescued Gideon from Rumple’s mother, Rumple vowed never to lie to her ever again and he had kept his word. The next ten years had passed with them living together peacefully, though they had gotten into a number of arguments over silly things but they were resolved quickly with them apologizing to one another. Usually in bed, she thought, blushing as she made her way upstairs.

She wanted to apologize first this time. One, because she knew he was stubborn not to say he was sorry when it was matters concerning Moe and second, she knew her father must have hurt him with his words and she hated it when Rumple tried to use them to sabotage himself. The man was at war with himself everyday, and he didn’t need anymore ammunition-

Belle paused as she lingered by Gideon’s room, the door was slightly open. Smiling, she quietly pushed it open to see her husband leaning by Gideon’s bed, head bent and arms gesturing wildly. She supposed he was telling their son Her Handsome Story again since it was the only book Gideon wanted them to read to him since he was old enough to talk. As she listened, she realized he was telling their boy a whole different story. Different but familiar.

“She was a hero, you see, and she wanted to save her people. So she did what no one else in the kingdom would have dared to do…she summoned the wizard.”

Belle smiled, leaning against the door frame. She saw Gideon look up at him and put a finger to her lips, motioning him to stay silent as her husband continued his story.

“Did the wizard come, papa?” Gideon asked.

“That he did. And when he saw the hero, he was amazed because she was so young and so brave and to save her people meant that she would do anything. She sacrificed the life she had so that her family and friends could continue to live and three hundred years I-the wizard, I mean, had never seen someone as pure as her. He was mesmerized by her, and he wanted to get to know her so he made a deal. Her family would be safe and in exchange, she would have to come and live with him forever.”

Gideon snorted just then and Belle quirked her eyebrow at her son’s reaction. Her husband shared her response, his head moving to look up at his son who had an incredulous look on his face.

“Something wrong?” Rumple asked and Gideon crossed his arms.

“That’s dumb,” their son murmured.

“What’s dumb?”

“The wizard. If he liked the hero, he could have just told her,” Gideon explained, frustrated that his father did not share his response to the story. Belle had to hold in a laugh, remembering just how hard it had been for her husband to even admit he had had feelings for her back in the Dark Castle. She couldn’t blame him though, he had been alone for a couple hundred years and another human's presence there must have been hard to get used to.

“Well, maybe the wizard was scared,” her husband continued in a defensive tone.

“Scared of what?” Gideon snapped back.

“He was ugly! And old! What if she rejected him?”

Gideon processed this for a minute, and then with a silent “oh” he dropped back against his pillow. Belle could imagine the smug look on Rumple’s face as he straightened himself on the chair, satisfied that this round of argument was won by him.

“So the wizard took her to his castle, and she became his maid. She was a great hero, of course, but was a terrible maid. She would forget to wash his clothes, and would be so busy reading her books that she would forget about dinner and the two of them had to pick through burnt turkey for the night,” he continued, and Belle could hear the smile in his voice.

Belle smiled along, the memory stirring her thoughts. He had been so mad at her, though he hadn’t shown it. Belle had lost track the number of times he would return to the castle after his trips and ask for his meal and she would stare at him because she had forgotten about it. 

“Why didn’t he get another maid?” Gideon interrupted once again.

“He liked her, remember? If he replaced her, she would go away and then the wizard would be sad.”

“This wizard has a lot of problems,” their son pointed out and Rumple nodded along in agreement.

“He still does. So the wizard and his maid continued to live together and he began to grow fond of her. She would get into quite a lot of trouble, and to the wizard’s surprise it only made him like her even more. She was interested in the world, you see, and asked the wizard about his trips whenever he came home. The wizard wanted to let her go so many times, but you have to understand, he was a very selfish man and he could not bear to see her walk away from him. It turns out that the wizard had fallen-“

“-where did he fall?”

“He fell, Gideon, into an ocean; blue and beautiful and frightening all at once. He was drowning but he wanted to be there, because that was where she was. His beautiful hero. She pulled him out just when he was about to drown and gave him back what he thought he had lost forever.”

“What was that, papa?”

Belle moved in closer to where Rumple was sitting, her hands aching to reach out to him.

“His heart. You see, son, the wizard had lived so long without anyone that he had become lost. But she found him amidst the darkness that he had succumbed to, and she dragged him back to the surface. She showed him what it was like to love someone again, how amazing it was to love and be loved in return. Three hundred years. It took the wizard three hundred years before he remembered he was a human being with the capability to feel love.”

Rumple fell silent, sighing heavily. 

“What happened to him? The wizard?” Gideon whispered but it was Belle who answered. 

“He married her. And they lived happily ever after.”

Rumple turned to face her, surprised and teary-eyed. He stood, and she crushed him into a hug. His hands tightened around her and she welcomed the closeness, pushing her head against his chest as she inhaled the scent of him. He had reminded her just how important they were to each other and whatever it was they had been arguing about earlier went flying out the window. All that mattered to her now was her husband and her son. Her family.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured into her ear and she choked a sob in response. 

“I’m sorry too,” she replied, pulling back from him just to kiss him lightly on the lips. 

“Is the story over?” Gideon asked in an irritated tone.

Belle and Rumple both laughed, turning to look at their son.

“Not yet, son. I’d say they still have a long way to go,” Rumple replied, glancing back at Belle. 

This issue between him and Moe was just a minor bump compared to the hell they had been through before Gideon was born, Belle reasoned. If they could overcome that, then they would overcome this too; the only difference being that this time they would do it together. Belle did not care if she had to force her father to behave whenever he came over or if she had to host a hundred different dinners to get them to bond, she would do it with Rumple standing right next to her. They had vowed to be together forever, and that was exactly what they were going to do.


End file.
